Contents
Caving Meets.
May 30th.
G.B. Cavern. C.C.C. Permits required. Meet @ cave entrance 11am.
June 5/7.
Buckfastleigh. Further details from Dave
Irwin or Keith Franklin.
June 26th.
St. Cuthberts practice
rescue. This will be the second full
scale practice to be held in the cave and it is hoped that as many leaders as possible
will attend this important event. Meet @
Belfry 11am.
July 9th.
Agen Allwedd (Aggy Aggy). Accommodation at C.S.S. cottage. Also camping. Indemnity forms are available at the Belfry or from Dave Irwin or Keith
Franklin. All forms to be returned to me
by JUNE 13TH.
D. Irwin. Caving Sec.
Sleeping Bags: –
The Northern Main Order Co. sell an ex U.S. Army Arctic
sleeping bag for 59/11 (postage 3/6). In
good condition these, with their 6lbs of down, are superior to even a Blacks
Icelandic Special and are thoroughly to be recommended. The bag should be examined closely for signs
or repair, particularly for a second rate replacement zip, and if there is any
doubt, send it back. The address is,
Northern Mail Order Co., Caledonian Buildings, 135/154 Leith walk,
R.S. King.
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A few people are still being given the benefit of the doubt
by the stal. department. Strictly speaking,
anyone who has still not paid their 1965 sub is no longer entitled to a
B.B. If you are one of those who have
not yet paid, do so NOW.
Ireby Fell Cavern
Late on Good Friday morning, several cars filled with 18
cavers left the Flying Horseshoe at Clapham for Ireby Fell a mile or so from
Masongill. A winding road led us to a
track quite near the potholes of Ireby and Marble Steps. Both were on the menu and are each 400 feet
deep, their streams feeding the master
less than a mile away.
Marble Steps was only a few minutes walk up the old stream
valley (a small stream is still active in it and feeds the
walk over the fell. The entrance to
Ireby is located at the deepest end of a large shakehole and leads one through
a short ruckle to a little ten foot climb leading to a letter box at the lower
end. It is here that one meets the water
face to face, and it is amusing to watch the members of the party trying to
avoid it they cant! A few feet
further the passage leads to a small chamber allowing one to stand comfortably,
and also the first pitch a free ladder climb of twenty five feet. This enters a chamber with part of the stream
entering just below the ladder climb and sinking again amongst the boulders on
the floor. 
Here one ladders for the big
pitch (ninety feet of ladder) the laddering of this pitch is not clear in the
guide books and a sketch (I hope!) will give a clearer picture of how it is
done. Gently lower the ladder from the
top of the pitch and climb down the first thirty five feet. Feed it to the ladder through the squeeze
behind a flake and over a wooden beam. Instead of climbing the whole pitch via the squeeze, get off the ladder
at the bottom of the second pitch (Dong
Pitch) climb down a spiral passage to rejoin the pitch (Bell Pitch). This avoids a soaking in the squeeze,
although one becomes very wet in the lower half of the pitch in any case. The chamber at the bottom of the big pitch is
a lofty rift. In addition to the shower
bath coming down Bell Pitch, a very heavy shower enters another corner, leaving
little space where one can keep dry. A narrow rift passage, with nicely
scalloped walls, meanders until the head of the fourth pitch 25 feet (Pussy
Pitch) is reached. Here a ladder was belayed from a flake on the bridge instead
of dropping it through the hole in the floor which takes the full volume of
water. At the bottom one finds oneself
in a small chamber with no apparent way on. A slit in the wall on the right hand side leads through a short
ruckle. Once clear of the ruckle, a fine
vadose trench is entered with the occasional formations. This trench meanders for quite a way,
sometimes forcing one to stream level or to squeeze past narrow walls. Next are the three ducks. These are not really ducks but we crawls
involving a few inches of water in a passage some eighteen inches high. Ive no doubt that when the water is high,
these passages are places to avoid, especially when one sees the flood debris
on the roof!
On leaving ducks, the rift continues to meander, although a
lot easier in a similar manner to the Crab Walk of the Giants Hole in
Derbyshire, until after about a thousand feet, the head of the fifth pitch is
reached. This twenty five foot pitch, a
little awkward at the top, leads to the main stream passage. Here, the passage dimensions change suddenly
from a few feet wide to ten to fifteen feet wide and a series of deep
pools. Again, after a few hundred yards,
one enters a series of large chambers that bypass a large section of the stream
passage. As the last chamber closed
down, so the stream re-appeared, only to sink shortly into the sump.
The well known mud flaked floor was not found, although we
entered the dry chambers, and can only think that successive parties have
destroyed them. Perhaps we should gate
caves after all! The in journey took
some four hours to bottom the pot and two and a half hours to get out. Tired and wet, but well satisfied with our
days caving, the party trudges through the moor land, using the last of the
daylight, back to the vans and food at the campsite. The party consisted of Dave Irwin, Don Craig,
Roger Broomhead, Tom Sage (W.S.G.) and two W.S.G. guests.
P.S. Just one final
personal comment, the pot is just one mile long and deserves a higher grading
than D.P.
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There will be a WORKING WEEKEND at the Belfry on Saturday
and Sunday the 29th and 30th of May. There are lots of things to be done to help improve the facilities. Please turn up that weekend PREPARED TO WORK.
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The editor would like to thank all those whom have sent in
articles recently. Please keep it up, as
we are having a large size issue of the B.B. shortly.
Letter
111A
Paignton,
6th April, 1965.
Dear Editor,
I feel that I must reply to the appeal in the B.B. for
members views on the subject of the Annual Dinner.
Helictite summed up the last dinner quite well with views
that I would say were shared by a lot of members who were present.
But if one is really critical, and I am, a point to bear in
mind is that, in the foyer of the restaurant, the displayed menu and price list
quoted the identical dinner, in the same surroundings with possibly the same waitresses,
as being the astronomical price of seven and sixpence.
I would rather like to have my club dinner there again thus
year, as I found the atmosphere and surroundings most congenial, bit if I must
pay ten shillings over the odds, I expect the service to be excellent, the wine
to be on time and the meal to be hot.
Without a doubt there must be some form of amusement,
particularly for the ladies, otherwise the evening can become quite dull. It is easy for the men because they can
stagger around like drunken newts, impersonating human beings and have no end
of a time. I am not going to pretend to
have the solution to the entertainment problem, but I will say that the
ingredients of the post prandial revelry last year seemed to satisfy most
people remarkably well.
Unfortunately, there is a shadow cast over the proceedings
by a few people on Mendip who wont support our Dinner because they say it will
be just like all the others. Most of
these people persist in shouting about what a wonderful time they had at the
other club dinners, to which I might add, they made no contribution
either. Now if instead, they were to
harness just a fraction of the effort they spent trying to reveal Stalagmite
and which, incidentally, they will be no doubt spend trying to unveil
Helictite, in writing just a few lines to the committee, proffering ideas and
suggestions, everyone would benefit.
These are a few of my thoughts on the matter and should
arouse some club member from his stagnation to offer some form of agreement or
reprisal or will it???
Michael A. Palmer (Pen Name)
Editors
Note: This
letter sounds a bit like fighting talk. I am afraid, however, that the committee have already had to fix (and
book) the place for the 1965 dinner also the menu. This only leaves the entertainment open for
suggestions. I have also shown this
letter to a correspondent and got this (hurriedly scribbled) reply
When I gave the editor my article, he said not to be very
surprised if nobody wrote in about it. They have and I am. I might even
write again something on something else.
Helictite
Practice Rescue
On June 26th, the second full scale practice rescue will be
held in St. Cuthberts. It was agreed at
the Leaders Meeting that this ought to be an annual event.
So far, in the thirteen years since the opening of this
cave, only minor accidents have occurred (sprained ankles, minor falls
etc.) It would be foolhardy to suppose
that a serious accident could not occur. I, like everyone else, hope that one will never occur, but it would be
very slack on the part of the leaders to follow this attitude of mind. We must, Im sure you will agree, be ready
for an emergency. All leaders should be
familiar with the rescue routes and techniques used to get a victim to the
surface as quickly as possible.
This year it is planned not to divulge the position of the
victim (Alan Thomas has volunteered to be our victim). All people helping are asked to be at the
Belfry by 11 oclock ready to change, so that an accurate assessment of time
taken for the many tasks to be carried out can be made.
The basic rescue from Upper Traverse Chamber to the entrance
will be used, i.e. Upper Traverse Pitch, Traverse Pitch, Water Shute, Gour
Passage Pitch, Pulpit Pitch, Arête and Entrance Pitch. Discussions are taking place to decide on the
siting of the victim and the route to be taken to Upper Traverse Chamber. It is hoped to use one of the radio
transmitters for cave to surface communication. The fixed line telephone will also be laid, with the handset that is
held in the Belfry.
It is hoped that many of the leaders will be present and
that any other caver who is interested in helping will be extremely
useful. If any one has nay queries or
suggestions I should be grateful if they would contact Keith Franklin or
myself.
Dave Irwin
St. Cuthberts Practice Rescue in Catgut Rift.
Whilst on the subject, it seems a
good place to print the account of the last do, even this makes it an almost
entirely Irwin type B.B
.
The first of this years practice rescue was held on May 1st
in the Catgut Rift. The victim (Roger
Stenner) was strapped in the carrying sheet in the bedding plane below the rift
near Crosslegs Squeeze. Due to the size
of our victim (sorry, Roger!) he could not be taken along the floor of the
rift to the widest part, where he could have been hauled up to the top and
easily taken out to the ruckle. As it
was, he was brought up the normal route over the chockstone. Up to this point, the passage was too narrow
to allow side carriers and in places it was not wide enough to allow them to
straddle the rift above the victim and help take his weight. To overcome this,
a makeshift holding line was attached to the straps on the carrying sheet. This seemed to solve the problem. Two lifelines will have to be added to the
list of tackle required for any rescue in the rift. When the victim was hauled up and over the
chockstone, the remainder of the rift presented no great difficulty. It was found that, by arranging rescuers high
in the rift, the victim could be carried over their knees quite easily. The ruckle presented little problems, none of
which are important.
This exercise proved that a victim can be extracted from
Catgut, but the time taken was two and a quarter hours. The question that needs answering is Will it
be quicker to take a victim through the Rabbit Warren Extension and up Everest
Passage to upper Traverse Chamber?
Many thanks to all those who came down to help, particularly
Roger Stenner for being our victim and to Oliver Lloyd who constantly gave
very useful advice and supplied the carrying sheet.
